Udinese owner Gianpaolo Pozzo has hopes for Antonio Di Natale to stay at the club beyond his playing days.
Di Natale has been the subject of speculation this summer, with a surprise move to Milan recently circulated in the media.
However, the Zebrette’s owner has made clear once more that he intends for the 35-year-old to see out his career in Udine.
“Toto will stay with us, because he is our captain and, as I always say, he will conclude his career here,” Pozzo reassured through Udinese Channel today.
Udinese owner Gianpaolo Pozzo has hopes for Antonio Di Natale to stay at the club beyond his playing days.
Di Natale has been the subject of speculation this summer, with a surprise move to Milan recently circulated in the media.
However, the Zebrette’s owner has made clear once more that he intends for the 35-year-old to see out his career in Udine.
“Toto will stay with us, because he is our captain and, as I always say, he will conclude his career here,” Pozzo reassured through Udinese Channel today.
“He will do so certainly as a player and also I hope as a director too, once he has finished his splendid career as a player.”
Pozzo discussed a number of subjects in his interview, including where he feels Udinese will be basing their resolution for the 2013-14 season.
“We start the year with the usual enthusiasm, to keep to our project and our trajectory.
“We cannot perform miracles for next season, so we will start with humility – first we have to attain survival, we are a small club, we have to take this into account.
“We begin with a budget of €40m, the great teams in Italy have €250m. And that is not to be thrown out of the window, but to be used by them to buy strong players.
“We are thinking towards survival, which is the most important thing.”
The club have a new stadium in the works.
“It was not easy to design the new stadium, the problem is bureaucracy. Television income is important, but the stadium is critical to maintain the link with the fans.
“Our goal is to recreate an atmosphere from the time of Zico. I want to see 25,000-30,000 people at the stadium to support the team.”